Adding to his Emmy, Grammy, TV Land and NAACP awards, LeVar Burton has just won the Chicago Tribune’s Young Adult Literary Award. He will receive the hone in June at the 2015 Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. In a statement from the newspaper, senior vice president and editor Gerould Kern said, “Through his passion, imagination and belief in inspiring your people, LeVar Burton has instilled the hoy of reading, in all its glorious forms, in countless readers and made an impact on many young lives.”
You can donate to RIF in honor of a child you read to or in memory of a parent who once read to you. Share the love.
If someone were to write your biography, what would it reveal about you? Would it be accurate? Could it be accurate? How would you write your own life story?
As I’ve worked with authors of memoirs and biographies about famous actors, I’ve been struck by the difference between the cultivated image and the person behind the image. In most cases, the persons featured in these books are no longer alive. The authors’ narratives are candid, intimate, revealing, moving … and sometimes shocking. I am left wondering how the people who are written about would feel to know their foibles and flaws were revealed to the world. Did they view themselves the way they are portrayed in these books? Even as I hungrily absorbed every detail of these accounts, I occasionally felt the discomfort of intruding in the most personal way into the lives of people who no longer could respond.
Biographies, autobiographies and memoirs are different genres. A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else; it should be complete and should be supported in the narrative or index by reliable, named sources. An autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by that person; it should be complete and supported in the narrative by reliable, named sources. A memoir is a collection of memories that an individual writes about moments or events that took place in the author’s life; it can cover specific periods of time and does not have to provide supportive resources.
I’ve become very selective about the biographies, autobiographies and memoirs I read these days. The best of them are entertaining and enlightening. Some are uplifting and inspiring. And if they do their job, they are memorable.
Here are some highly recommended life stories that may get you thinking about writing your own autobiography or memoir:
Autobiography My Autobiography – Charles Chaplin Sunday Nights at Seven – Jack Benny Knock Wood – Candace Bergen The Ragman’s Son – Kirk Douglas
Biography Louise Brooks: A Biography – Barry Paris Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel — Christina Rice Bogart – Ann M. Sperber Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption – Laura Hillenbrand
Hybrid Memoir/Biography Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power – Romina Power The Baron of Mulholland – Rory Flynn
Two of the books mentioned in Auto(biographical) Pilot are not currently sold in traditional stores. For more information about Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power, contact Tyrone Power First Edition. For information about The Baron of Mulholland, visit the author’s website.
Following the runaway success of last year’s Chicago Independent Bookstore Day and California Bookstore Day, twelve Chicago independent bookstores are banding together to join Independent Bookstore Day, a country-wide celebration of books and independent bookstores on May 2nd. From Andersonville to Hyde Park, book lovers should mark their calendars for this special day of literary festivities.
To encourage Chicago readers to visit their own neighborhood store as well as the other unique stores in different neighborhoods throughout the city, participating bookstores are offering special deals, raffles, author events, refreshments and general bookish revelry. Select customers will also have a chance to collect pages from each participating store to complete to a limited edition chapbook of a previously unreleased story by Stuart Dybek illustrated by Dmitry Samarov designed and printed especially for the day.
Stores participating include: The Book Cellar, 57th Street Books, Seminary Coop, Sandmeyer’s Bookstore, Unabridged Bookstore, Roscoe Books, Open Books River North, Open Books Pilsen, City Lit Books, Uncharted Books, Powell’s Bookstore University Village, and Women & Children First. Chicago’s independent bookstores, each with their own unique selection, all offer a variety of readings, discussions, and storytimes and special events for children. Most offer community bulletin boards and space for groups to meet. All are anchors in their neighborhoods, sources of information and entertainment, welcoming places for natives and tourists alike.
I have a beribboned bundle of letters my father wrote to my mother while he served in the military during WW II. They give me insights into a man who was reticent in the spoken word. His letters are potent, especially his expressions of love for his wife and son, my mother and brother (before my time). I read and hear his voice, alive in my mind, as I touch and smell the paper which his hands (and my mother’s) once held. Each letter is a treasure.
Letter writing began for practical use, to self-teach and to share information. The ancient historian Hellanicus noted that the first recorded hand written letter (epistle) was by Persian Queen Atossa, daughter of Syrus, mother of Xerxes around 500 BC. Letters are mentioned in Homer’s Iliad. Even the Bible includes letters. What would the New Testament be had St. Paul not been such a prolific letter writer?
Over time, as people gained access to writing tools and some form of mail delivery, letter writing became a popular way to express oneself. The art of letter writing emerged but every technological advancement – cheap postage, the telephone, the typewriter, the telegraph, and ever faster delivery — brought moans over the expected death of the art.
Today, the ease and speed of emails, texts, tweets, Facebook posts and other digital advances has resulted in more messages being sent to more people. Laments over the decline of the art of letter writing are as loud as ever. Never before have so few written so much that conveyed so little!
Yet, letter writers persevere. Everyone enjoys receiving personal letters. Some, including me, enjoy writing them as much as receiving them. Letters have the ability to change lives. They have, on occasion changed the course of history.
If you doubt this, check out some great collections of letters that have been curated in books; or check out one of the wonderful novels built around letters between people. These letters and the stories built around them have endured over years, centuries and even millennia. They may inspire you to pick up pen and paper or pull out that old tip-tap typewriter and pack your “epistles”!
Real Letters: Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience — Shaun Usher (editor) To the Letter: A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing – Simon Garfield P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters – Sophie Ratcliffe (editor) Graham Greene: A Life in Letters – Richard Greene (editor) The Letters of Edith Wharton – P.W.B. Lewis & Nancy Lewis (editors) 84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff The Groucho Letters – Groucho Marx Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power – Romina Power
Novels with Letters (Epistolary Novels): The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows Dracula – Bram Stoker Daddy-Long-Legs – Jean Webster The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis The Fan – Bob Randall We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
One of the books listed in Letter Perfect is only available through mail order: Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power includes some wonderfully written letters by the renowned screen idol, his famous stage actor father and others. It’s part of a candid and fascinating biographical memoir about an extraordinary man who was King of the Box Office during Hollywood’s Golden Age. For more information, contact Tyrone Power First Edition.
Perhaps the most personal aspect of anyone’s life is the individual connection with feelings about faith. Each of us has faith in something and we seek confirmation of our beliefs through various means; sometimes confirmation comes through the expression of others. A great way to celebrate the many spiritually based holidays of this lovely Spring season, is to read great books (beyond sacred scripture) that reflect our particular faith or, perhaps just as important, introduce us to other faiths. What may surprise you is how similar the core values of different faiths are, just as the core of humanity is similar despite our many differences.
Some books that may interest, enlighten and inspire you are:
Non-Fiction The World’s Religions – Huston Smith The History of God – Karen Armstrong The Varieties of Religious Experience – William James Think on These Things – Jiddu Krishnamurti This is My God – Herman Wouk Black Elk Speaks – John G. Neihardt and Nicholas Black Elk The Candle of Vision – George William Russell (pseudonym Æ) In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching – P.D. Ouspensky Orthodoxy – G. K. Chesterton
Fiction Silence – Shūsaku Endō The Peaceable Kingdom – Jan de Hartog Siddharta – Herman Hesse The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer – Bashevis Singer The Razor’s Edge – W. Somerset Maugham Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor
Poetry The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran Gitanjali – Rabindrnaath Tagore Collected Poems – W. B. Yeats The Essential Rumi – Rumi Complete Poems – Marianne Moore
For Children A Gentle Thunder – Max Lucado God’s Paintbrush – Sandy Eisenberg Sasso What is God? – Etan Bortizer The Golden Rule – Ilene Cooper All I See is Part of Me – Chara Curtis
“You must grab the reader in the first three paragraphs of a novel,” I was reminded once again at a presentation by a publisher last week. We live in a world of short attention spans and easily distracted focus. Raised on a diet of Sesame Street and graduating to USA Today, Twitter and Tumblr, our reading habits have been further shortened by social media. So much to read, so little time to read it all. There is no room in today’s literary market for the likes of James Michener.
Pulitzer Prize winner James Michener (1907-1997) was the author of such bestselling novels as Tales of the South Pacific (adapted as South Pacific in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and Academy Award-winning film), Sayonara, Hawaii, Centennial and The Source. A prolific writer of more than 40 books, often selected for Book-of-the-Month club, Michener was known for his expansive sagas that followed generations of families, set in geographic locales that were described in great detail, including meticulously researched factual history.
Today, agents and publishers would reject Michener’s manuscripts without finishing page one. He viewed place as a major influence on characters, typically using the first 50-100 pages of his novels to describe the geophysical origins of a locale before introducing characters that would carry the plot forward. Readers could skip the lengthy place descriptions but they rarely did because of the strength of Michener’s writing. Today’s authors can’t afford to keep their main characters and action waiting for 50 sentences, let alone 50 pages. Readers have no patience for it. Agents and publishers have no patience for it. Alas, I no longer have patience for it. Sadly, Michener would fail today.
Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.— Anatole France
Earlier this month, I had to let our family’s lovely rabbit, Oliver, be euthanized. I wish I could use the euphemism “put to sleep” but there is no awakening and the loss is permanent. The hole in my heart will eventually fill with memories. This post is dedicated to Oliver, Arrow, Dusty, Mucki, Rosette, Sunset, Frisky, and Taffy; and to all the lovely creatures that are the golden threads in the tapestry of our lives.
Anyone who has ever loved a pet understands the price we pay to have these dear creatures in our life; that we may be called upon to help them one last time, even as our hearts are breaking.
One is lucky to love an animal. One is lucky also to have limitless access to animals through great literature. We grow up on fairy tales populated by animals and continue to find them in some of the most enduring literature throughout our lives. Among the best and brightest stories involving animals are:
Fiction for All Ages Black Beauty – Anna Sewell Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls The Call of the Wild – Jack London The Black Stallion – Walter Farley
Fiction for Adults Watership Down – Richard Adams Animal Farm – George Orwell The Art of Racing in the Rain – Garth Stein
Non-Fiction Marley and Me – John Grogan All Creatures Great & Small – James Herriot Seabiscuit: An American Legend – Laura Hillenbrand Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds – Joy Adamson Never Cry Wolf – Farley Mowat
Written For Young Children, Loved By Adults Charlotte’s Webb – E.B. White The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Beatrix Potter The Secret of NIMH – Seymour Reit The Story of Ferdinand – Munro Leaf Stellaluna – Janell Cannon Make Way for Ducklings – Robert McCloskey
I think I could always live with animals. The more you’re around people, the more you love animals. — Walt Whitman
Whether or not you wear green, eat bangers and mash, lift a pint of Guiness and sport a shamrock pin that says “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” on St. Patrick’s Day, it’s a great day to consider the contributions of Irish literature to the English lexicon.
Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in western Europe (after Greek and Latin). In fact, its writing includes Latin, as well as Irish and English. The Latin dates back to the 7th century, written by monks. English was introduced in the 13th century with the Norman Conquest of Ireland.
Until the 1800s, the Irish language dominated Irish literature. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, English rapidly became the main language in society and in literature. A Gaelic revival took place at the end of the century but it’s the authors writing in English who have had the widest, most enduring success.
Perhaps the most famous Irish author, certainly the one who had greatest impact on English language literature of the 20th century, was James Joyce. I posted a piece about him, The Joy in Joyce, on this blog site last June. A long list of other notable Irish authors includes Jonathan Swift, W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker, George Bernard Shaw, Edna O’Brien, Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel, Colm Toibin and John Banville. Yeats, Shaw, Beckett and Heaney were recipients of the Nobel Prize. For such a small country, Ireland has attained a high visibility in the literary world.
Many Irish-born authors did not remain in Ireland but they brought the rich cultural heritage and the spirit of the island into their writing. The geography, the history, the very air and water infused the themes and the cadence of the novels, memoirs, poetry and plays produced by Irish writers.
Some authors and books to start your Irish journey might include:
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray (novel); The Importance of Being Ernest (play).
Bram Stoker: Dracula (Gothic horror novel).
W.B. Yeats: The Collected Poems (poetry).
G.B. Shaw: Pygmalian (play); Candida (play).
James Joyce: Dubliners (short stories); Ulysses (novel).
Maeve Binchy: Circle of Friends (novel); Evening Class (novel.
Seamus Heaney: District and Circle (poetry); Opened Ground (poetry).
Edna O’Brien: Saints and Sinners (short stories); The Country Girls (Trilogy).
There’s an Irish saying, “If you’re enough lucky to be Irish… You’re lucky enough!” I’ll add to that, “Even if you are not Irish… luck will find you when you read Irish literature!”
March is the month when changing weather takes on the characteristics of animals: in like a lion, out like a lamb. In literature, a character who goes through an important internal change (in personality or attitude) is called a dynamic character. A familiar example of a dynamic character is Dickens’ Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
Having to resolve a central conflict or facing a crisis results in the dynamic character’s permanent change. The evolving change shows character development. Because resolving the conflict is key to the story, the role is given to a central character rather than a peripheral one.
The best-written characters are multi-dimensional, with good and bad qualities, just like the rest of us. The change in the dynamic character does not affect all those qualities; that would be unrealistic and make the character less interesting, less believable.
Other examples of well-known dynamic characters in literature include:
Hamlet’s changed view of death.
Jean Valjean changes several times in Les Miserables, from ex-convict outcast to honest mayor and beloved father to revolutionary hero.
Sherlock Holmes’ changed view and treatment of women in A Scandal in Bohemia. In other stories, Holmes remains a static character, which makes him an interesting, believable multidimensional character.
Harry Potter changes from an orphaned child to a world-saving wizard adult.
Michael Corleone proves, in The Godfather, that change is not always for the good as he evolves from an optimistic war hero to a ruthless mafia don.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the most interesting characters are dynamic … just like March weather.
After the endless winter of 2013-14, I should have tossed the painted wooden “Let It Snow” decoration I had foolishly hung outside my house right after Thanksgiving. I never put it up this winter. Made no difference. Winter returned, bringing historic snowfalls and record-shattering low temperatures to many places. How can snow look so magical as it floats down from the sky to soften the landscape, then become so miserable so quickly?
In literature, snow elicits the full spectrum of emotions. It can cleanse and purify. It can obscure. It can save life or kill it. It falls slowly and softly, whistles up a wind or comes crashing down. It’s an end or a beginning. It’s all in the telling.
Robert Frost paints a lovely picture in Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. Turning snow into an ominous metaphor, Richard Wright’s Native Son hatches a desperate plan while walking in a blizzard. James Joyce beautifully describes snow falling and gathering on every surface in The Dead. In Jack London’s Call of the Wild, readers share a Southern California boy’s introduction to snow as he learns to survive and eventually become one with the challenging environment of the Klondike. The frozen scenes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein were inspired by a trip she took to see a stretch of glacier at the side of the Mont Blanc massif. As backdrop, plot device or symbolism, snow will always find a welcome place in literature.
Snow is not limited to genre, writing format or author, as shown in these examples:
Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. – Mary Oliver
It snowed all week. Wheels and footsteps moved soundlessly on the street, as if the business of living continued secretly behind a pale but impenetrable curtain. In the falling quiet there was no sky or earth, only snow lifting in the wind, frosting the window glass, chilling the rooms, deadening and hushing the city. At all hours it was necessary to keep a lamp lighted, and Mrs. Miller lost track of the days: Friday was no different from Saturday and on Sunday she went to the grocery: closed, of course. – Truman Capote
Snow’s all right on a fine morning, but I like to be in bed when it’s falling. – J.R.R. Tolkien
Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person. – Sylvia Plath
If I look out the window of my back yard these days, I am likely to see snowflakes floating or dancing. In flurries or clear, still air, I see the glistening blanket of white that has truly frozen in time over recent weeks. I’m ready to curl up with a good book by the fireplace. I know just the piece of kindling I will use to feed the young flames.
What happens when your reading is interrupted before you’ve finished? If you’re like me, you grab whatever is handy to mark your place. The result is a plethora of markers where you live and work. If a book or magazine is lucky, it has a real bookmark in it; otherwise, a paper scrap, piece of string, paper clip or something more inventive is recruited to service.
Recently, a woman I was in touch with because of my work on Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power, sent me a lovely handcrafted bookmark, part of a line she creates for sale in select stores. Her thoughtful gift, gracing the book currently on my nightstand, got me thinking about bookmarks.
Bookmarks of some sort must have been employed since ancient times when the written word was on scrolls that stretched 130 feet or more. Historians can date bookmarks back to medieval times when books were rare, extremely valuable and vulnerable to damage. Some of the earliest bookmarks, usually made of vellum or leather in various shapes (some quite inventive), date back to the 13th century, often used to hold the place in religious books. One would not dare lay a book on its spine or turn down the corner of a page.
The evolution of bookmarks mirrored advances in printing. In the 16th century, the most valuable books continued to be religious and the reader’s place was kept by “bookmarkers”. Accordingly, designs were exquisite, using valuable materials. The Royal Museum of Brunei displays an ivory bookmark that was made in India in the 16th century, embellished with a geometrical pattern of pierced holes, which was used in illuminated Korans. In 1584, the printer who held the sole rights to print the Bible in the British empire, presented Queen Elizabeth I with a fancy, fringed silk bookmark.
Taking their inspiration from the Queen’s bookmarks, books of the Edwardian and early Victorian eras commonly had narrow silk ribbons bound into them at the top of the spine, long enough to project just past the lower edge of the page.
Commercially-produced, machine-woven detachable bookmarks began to appear in the 1850s. Silk was a favorite material, frequently designed to celebrate special events. Young ladies in the Victorian age were taught embroidery, often showing their skill by producing elaborate bookmarks as gifts for relatives and friends.
As books became more widely available by the 1880s, bookmarks made of stiff paper saw a dramatic rise. Their popularity was helped by companies producing attractive bookmarks as promotional giveaways to advertise their brand. Specialized companies manufactured bookmarks of such diverse materials as gold, brass, bronze, copper, celluloid, pewter, mother of pearl, leather and ivory. Many were shaped like knives or swords, to be used as paper cutters because books in that period often contained many pages that were not completely separated.
Contemporary bookmarks continue to be made in all variety of materials (celluloid has been replaced by plastic) and are as popular as ever. They are such a fixture in our lives that even in the Internet era, we use the term “bookmark” to denote a page or location we want to easily refer back to.
Everyone can use and appreciate a bookmark. If you’re an author, consider giving people bookmarks that promote your books. If you’re looking for a gift that’s always the right fit, you can’t go wrong with a well-made bookmark. Mark my words!
If you live near The Twig Book Shop in San Antonio, or the Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, check out the great bookmarks by Kolleen’s Kollectables. Artist Colleen Theobald created a line of fabric bookmarks with special concern for thickness, to fit properly in a book.
“I tested several models and finally came up with a design that people are finding useful as well as decorative,” notes Theobald. “A variety of cotton fabrics are available that can reflect a customer’s interests … crossword, wine, wildflower, music, coffee… to name a few. Two contrasting ribbons, which complement the color tones in the fabric, are at the end of the bookmark to help mark the book page for the reader. A wide variety of fabrics are available since I also make fabric coasters and aprons with various themes.”
My how times have changed! What do you think Jane Austen, author or such classics as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Emma, would say about the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey? Both are in the genre called “romance novel” but where one author writes implicitly, the other writes explicitly.
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, this could be the ideal time to give your darling (or gift yourself) a romance novel. There’s an endless variety to choose from. You can reach back to one of the classics (romance novels date back to the 17th century) or select from an endless list of more contemporary books. Romance novels are a $1billion industry, so vast, it has spawned several subcategories: historical romance (examples are Jane Eyre and Gone With the Wind), contemporary romance (examples are The Notebook and The Time Traveler’s Wife), gothic romance (examples are Wuthering Heights and Rebecca), paranormal romance (examples are Lover Awakened and The Paper Magician), inspirational romance (examples are The Atonement Child and Baby, It’s Cold Outside) and romantic suspense (examples are Now You See Her and Montana Sky).
Romance novels reflect the culture of their times, exploring and reflecting aspects of life that are of particular interest to women. They reflect the world as women view it or would like to see it. The best of these novels are entertaining and enlightening for men as well as women. Check out your local book store or library to see what’s worth reading in the wide world of romance novels.
Looking for a romantic novel but not necessarily a romance novel? Readers Digest suggests: The Thornbirds – Colleen McCullough Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje True Believers – Nicholas Sparks The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles Chesapeake Blue – Nora Roberts The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy Outlander – Diana Gabaldon Follow the Stars Home — Luann Rice
Mentioning Groundhog Day brings more to mind than Punxsutawney Phil and his brethren, those funny, furry rodents (also known as woodchuck, whistle-pig, or land-beaver) who grab the media spotlight every February 2nd. Ever since 1993’s movie hit of the same name, Groundhog Day conjures up the image of living the same experience over and over again.
In movies and in literature, the repetition of events over a few hours or a few days is a plot device called a time loop. Each time the loop “resets”, most characters behave as if they aren’t aware of the loop but the main character (or characters) retains his/her memory or becomes aware of the loop. Awareness allows a character to manipulate events within the time frame, creating different futures. In some plots, the main character may travel back and forth through time in order to relive and manipulate a past event. Each time the loop repeats, with one or more aspects changing, the main character becomes more enlightened. The time frame of a loop continues to repeat until the main character(s) works out the right actions that finally break the loop.
The time loop is most often used in in science fiction but is also effective in fantasy or as a fantasy element in other genres. 12:01 PM, a short story by Richard A. Lupoff that was published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is considered the inspiration for Groundhog Day. It appears in the anthology, The Book of Time.
Other books that effectively use a time loop include: Loop – Karen Akins I Am the Cheese – Robert Cormier The Neverending Story – Michael Ende Replay – Ken Grimwood The Dark Tower (series) – Stephen King Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver
The time loop works in literature because we are fascinated by the idea that every little action we do carries weight. Even the smallest, most mundane things we do are important to the universe. Who among us hasn’t fantasized about being given a chance to do something over again that might change the trajectory of his/her life (just ask Punxsutawney Phil)?
Happy to report there are still copies of the Collector’s Quality Limited First Edition of Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power available to Book●ed fans at a special discount. This candid and intimate story of the last great movie idol from Hollywood’s Golden Age, written by his daughter, Romina Power, is a perfect gift for Valentine’s Day (women and men swooned over Tyrone Power… and still do) or St. Patrick’s Day (the impressive Power family has fascinating ties to Ireland). Send an email for more details about ordering Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power. Mention Book●ed to get special discount information.
The world is reeling from the insanity of terrorism. Like a virus, the hate that fuels misguided terrorist attacks often mutates. The new strain of hatred blinds “civilized” people so that they no longer see the humanity of individuals, only “otherness”. Suspicious of otherness, they enact their own form of mindless targeted hatred. The stealth virus of terrorism infects and weakens cohesive societies by separating people into fearful, fighting groups.
One of the best Twilight Zone episodes, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, aptly captures how easily the virus of hatred spreads. At the end of this 1960 classic episode, narrator (and writer) Rod Serling comments, “The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.”
The only proven antidote for the infection of hatred is love. Some of the greatest world leaders have demonstrated in their own lives, often at great sacrifice, the power love has to cure hate. One of those great men, Martin Luther King, Jr., will be remembered and honored on January 19th. King walked the walk in the truest sense of the word. He also talked the talk in ways that inspired people across the globe. There couldn’t be a more important time to read those words again.
For your considerations, some quotes from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (various sources):
People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.
As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
… love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see.
There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.
Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love.
In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.
The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.
We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
To learn more about Martin Luther King, Jr., check out the following books: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63; Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65; At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68 — Taylor Branch’s Pulitzer-prize winning trilogy of narrative history. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference – David J. Garrow’s Pulitzer-prize winning biography. Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. – Stephen B. Oates multi-award-winning biographical examination.
And for young readers: Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Bryan Collier. A Caldecott Honor winner for children ages 5 and up. My Life With Martin Luther King Jr. — Coretta Scott King’s 1968 memoir, reframed in 1994 for high school students. The Martin Luther King, Jr., Encyclopedia (rev. 2008) – 6-volume encyclopedia of King’s written work, papers, letter and speeches, compiled by Clayborne Carson (Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute) , Tenisha Armstrong, Susan Carson, Erin Cook, and Susan Englander. Aimed at students grade 10 and up.
See Dick read. See Jane read. See Dick and Jane read to Fido. Reading is going to the dogs and this is great news.
A reading dog is one that helps children learn by being the audience they need to encourage reading. Across the U.S., the U.K. and New Zealand, classrooms and libraries have introduced specially trained canines that partner with children who have struggled with reading skills and interpersonal communication.
Reading in front of a class can be frightening but reading to a nonjudgmental dog is calming and encouraging. Whether a reader is struggling due to a learning disability, learning to read in a second language, is shy or unmotivated to read, dogs dissolve those barriers with their friendly, attentive presence.
“Kids have to practice, practice, practice to be good readers,” said Francine Alexander, the chief academic officer at Scholastic, the children’s book publisher. “And yet when you’re practicing, if you make a mistake, it can feel risky and uncomfortable. But if you’re practicing with a dog, you don’t mind making the mistake.”
Much as therapy dogs vary in their degree of training, reading dogs may be trained to participate in book “selection” while others are brought in by volunteers simply to calmly sit with the reader. Reading dogs provide the reader with the chance to read aloud, an important component in building reading skills in beginning readers as they sound out words. For children with socialization challenges, dogs unleash (pun intended) their inhibitions.
Reading Dogs programs have been around at least 15 years and the concept has spread along with the success stories. A study by researchers at the University of California, Davis confirmed that children who read to Fido perform better. Young students who read out loud to dogs improved their reading skills by 12 percent over the course of a 10-week program, while children in the same program who didn’t read to dogs showed no improvement.
To find out if there is a Reading Dogs program in your community, contact your local library and school district. If there is no program, suggest one from the many that can be found on the internet. One helpful website is Library Dogs.com.
No, I’m not talking about Amazon, the publishing giant. I am talking about fearless women in the book industry. In Greek mythology, Amazon women were fierce warriors, strong and brave. In 2014, the real Amazon women were in the book business. While headlines were dominated by the seemingly intractable war between Internet giant Amazon and major publishing house Hachette (see my June 8, 2014 blog post, Burying the Hachette?), these women were insuring booklovers that the literary community would survive and thrive.
Across the country during the 1990s, we saw an alarming reduction in the number of independent bookstores, replaced by mega-merchants offering discounts and the convenience of shopping from home. That shift was captured in the movie, You’ve Got Mail. I wrote about it in my post, Guilty as Charged on March 10, 2013. It’s worth a look back.
Neighborhood independent bookstores are the cornerstones of the literary community. Libraries offer a repository of massive inventories of books but indie bookstores measure the pulse of what’s emerging in literary circles. They can do more to introduce readers to new authors through store appearances and social media, to support book clubs and expos, to host events where children not only handle books but can take them home as their very own. Neighborhood bookstores feed the senses and the spirit.
For self-published authors who may find big box booksellers have erected insurmountable barriers to inclusion on the bookshelf, local independent bookstores are often very welcoming. Considering that self-published books now represent around 50 percent of new titles each year, this means indie book stores may offer titles not found at chain stores and discounters.
The good news in Chicagoland (and I suspect elsewhere) is that independent bookstores are on an upward trajectory. What I find striking is the number of women behind the resurgence. They are either saving stores on the verge of closing by buying them or they are opening new stores. Perhaps there’s a link between the nurturing aspect of women’s lives as mother’s, teachers and counselors that motivates them. It’s just as likely these women see a business opportunity that is both intellectually and financially rewarding.
The culture of reading is in transition: what we read, how we read, where and when we read, how we access what we read. Owning a successful independent bookstore is no walk in the park. Sometimes the best man to get the job done is a woman. All I have to say to each of these real Amazon women is, “You go, girl!”
To see photos of the “20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World”, visit Flavor Wire.
Kudos to the Chicagoland women independent bookstore owners who are faithfully keeping the love of literature alive and well. They include Nina Barrett (Bookends and Beginnings), Stephanie Hochschild (Book Stall), Sarah Hollenbeck and Lynn Mooney (Women & Children First) , Teresa Kirschbraun (City Lit), Eleanor Thorn (Lake Forest Book Store) and Erica VanDam (RoscoeBooks). Of note, Bookends and Beginnings is at the same location that housed the legendary Bookman’s Alley – mentioned in my March 13, 2013 blog post Guilty as Charged.
The uniquely human invention of measured time is never as celebrated or feared as on New Year’s Eve. A tick of the clock or a turn of the page and the calendar begins anew. Triumphs of the past year become endearing memories while tribulations become learning opportunities from which new hope may spring.
Literature recognizes the potent thoughts and emotions that New Year’s Eve evokes in us. We can find references in such classic literature as Silas Marner; Middlemarch; Black Beauty; Little Women; and A Doll’s House. It populates such timeless poetry as Tennyson’s In Memoriam and Hardy’s New Year’s Eve. It appears in modern titles, too, such as White Teeth and The Children of Men.
Writers have a lot to say about New Year’s Eve. Two of my favorite witty quotes are:
Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. — Mark Twain
Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account. — Oscar Wilde
Authors should take to heart T.S. Eliot’s note on New Year’s Eve: For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.
Wishing everyone a New Year of hopeful beginnings and happy endings!
In last week’s Boston Bound post, I recommended some great books with stories based in Boston. It should also be noted that the city produced great authors for more nearly 400 years. In addition to Hawthorne, James, Alcott, and Plath (mentioned in my Boston post), others include Benjamin Franklin, Phillis Wheatley, Edgar Allen Poe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost, Jack Kerouac and Dennis Lehane. When you’re in Boston, check out the stately Boston Public Library. Founded in 1848, it is the second largest public library in the United States, behind only the Library of Congress.
In follow-up news to my June 8th post, Burying the Hatchette?, there was much to be thankful for in late November with the news that Amazon and Hatchette reached a compromise to their long-running, nasty feud. It meant that booklovers’ voices were heard and books from the fourth-biggest U.S. publisher were once again accessible through the dominant internet bookseller. Each side of the battle can claim a degree of victory but the war is far from over. Stay tuned.
The last of my travels in 2014 recently took me to Boston to visit my son. Boston has become one of my favorite cities. Aside from counting my son among its citizens, it holds and honors an impressive history. The city is walkable, its distinctive neighborhoods layered in varied cultures with sights, sounds, aromas and tastes telling tales of the people who formed this great metropolis.
Boston lights the imagination of writers. It shows up in a lot of great books, either setting the stage for a story or taking center stage as a personality. It is never chosen by chance or default. Even in non-fiction, stories set in Boston have a certain “feel” they could not get from any other city.
Here are some Boston-based books worth checking out:
Fiction: The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne An Old Fashioned Girl – Louisa May Alcott Summer – Edith Wharton The Late George Apley – John P Marquand The Last Hurrah – Edwin O’Connor The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood Still Alice – Lisa Genova
Non-Fiction: The Story of My Life – Helen Keller Boston Firsts: 40 Feats of Innovation and Invention That Happened First in Boston and Helped Make America Great – Lynda Morgenroth
For Children: Make Way for Ducklings – Robert McCloskey Johnny Tremain – Esther Forbes
Winter holidays are upon us. If you’re still wondering where to find the perfect gift, visit your local independent bookstore. Their staff can help you find the right book to entertain, inform or enlighten. They’ll probably even giftwrap your purchase for you. Still not sure what to select? A gift card for a bookstore is always the right fit.
Authors and editors of any age benefit from reading good books. That’s true for young writers and editors as well as for adults. The Center for Children’s Books at the University of Illinois reviews around 1,000 new children’s titles annually. For the holidays, they produce a free Guide Book to Gift Books, with suggestions for young readers of every type. The list of about 300 titles is grouped in four categories based on age ranges and considers books published within the past three years. The free guide features concise and user-friendly notes to help with book selections for your favorite young readers.
Looking for a special holiday gift for your favorite booklover? Collector’s quality limited first editions of Romina Power’s moving memoir/biography, Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power are now available by email special order tyronepower.firstedition@gmail.com while quantities last. In film historian Matthew Hoffman’s book review/ of this handsomely produced book, he says it is “… a work of love that his fans will certainly love. Considering that Power himself was an avid collector of first edition books, this was a nice homage to him. Though it took years to see the light of day in this country, I can tell you that it’s been worth the wait. This is a beautifully written and compiled book for the global fans of Tyrone Power.”
A dozen years ago, the United States was stunned on a gorgeous September morning and freedom as we knew it was forever changed. The images and emotions of that day and the weeks that followed remain fresh in our minds. But 9/11 was not the first surprise attack on the U.S. The day that, in President Franklin Roosevelt’s words, “will live in infamy,” happened 70 years earlier, on December 7, 1941.
Pearl Harbor is in our collective distant mirror now. There are few people left who experienced those years firsthand, the events that significantly transformed both the United States and Japan. Fortunately, literature from and about that time in history is available to us. To understand who we are as a nation today and guide us in the critical decisions we must make in response to modern threats – whether real or imagined – we can turn to books that were written about the people, the times and the lessons we needed to learn when war first came to our shores. Here are some of the best:
Non-Fiction: At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor – Gordon W. Prange Day of Infamy – Walter Lord
Fiction: Battle Cry – Leon Uris From Here to Eternity – James Jones Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2) – Ken Follett
